News Over Noise: Eat Your Broccoli: What Media Literacy Misses About Young People

Young people are often described as disengaged or indifferent to the news. But those labels miss what is actually happening.

In this episode of News Over Noise, Matt Jordan and Cory Barker talk with Rachel Besharat Mann, PhD of Wesleyan University about how adolescents and young adults navigate news in social media environments.

Drawing on her research, the conversation explores news avoidance, algorithmic trust, influencer culture, and how identity, emotion, and wellness shape the ways young people interpret information and develop early civic identities in a platform-driven media landscape.

Listen to the episode: News Over Noise 406.